The Trilling Shard: an Exclusive Numenera Sourcebook

The Trilling Shard: an Exclusive Numenera Sourcebook

Our Numenera setting books give you a sweeping tour of the diverse regions, people, and creatures of the Ninth World, its oceans, stars, and alternate dimensions. These books leave plenty of blanks for you to create around the established material without worrying about creating inconsistencies in that material.

However, some people like a deeper dive into a single location, with rich details, NPCs, and adventure hooks. Enter: The Trilling Shard.

The Numenera 2 Kickstarter is building and growing a Ninth World community called Ellomyr, shaped by the decisions and actions of its backers. In addition, backers have created amazing stories, audio fiction, video fiction, and illustrations that further the saga of Ellomyr; you can follow along in the Kickstarter comments or view some fantastic selections in the updates.

Illustration by Bruce Brenneise

Now, we always knew that we were going to create a book about Ellomyr and the Trilling Shard, the ancient symbol-covered stone that stands in Ellomyr’s main square and quavers with sound at rare times. We knew the book was going to be exclusive to backers of the Kickstarter, and given to backers of every reward level, a testament to our shared world-building experience with thousands of players.

But things are going along so well that we’ve decided to increase our plans for the product. Thanks to the enthusiasm of backers, we’ve decided that The Trilling Shard will be at least a 64-page sourcebook, and it will include a poster map of Ellomyr itself!

What kind of sourcebook will it be? Well, we haven’t written it yet, obviously, as we and the backers are still shaping it. But we know it will contain everything you need to put Ellomyr in your adventure or campaign.

When we started, Ellomyr was just a village. Right now in the narrative, it’s a town. Later, if things go well, it will grow into a city. The Trilling Shard will provide what you need to use Ellomyr in any of these stages, including some fantastic maps and art. Plus, like any good Numenera setting sourcebook, The Trilling Shard will include:

Interesting and unique locations

A variety of intriguing NPCs

Adventure seeds

New and unique cyphers, artifacts, oddities, iotum, and other bits of the numenera (including bits about the Trilling Shard itself, the secrets of which are still being revealed in the ongoing narrative).

It will also provide interesting opportunities to use the Numenera Destiny rules to grow and change Ellomyr further, to build new and helpful (or dangerous) devices and vehicles for your characters, and to scour nearby ruins for useful iotum.

Will your character be an Arkus who tries to lead Ellomyr into a glorious future? As a Wright, will you build Ellomyr a healing device or a killing machine? How will your community work together to fight back against those who threaten your city?

Ellomyr can be the starting point of an entire campaign utilizing Numenera Discovery and Numenera Destiny. The Trilling Shard will be a great addition to your Numenera shelf and your game table, and backing this Kickstarter is the only way you can get it. If you opt for PDF products you will get The Trilling Shard in PDF, and those getting print products will get it in print.

We can’t wait to get started on this, but first we have to finish the Kickstarter campaign, and see where the narrative takes us. Please join us, or help us by sharing the word about the Kickstarter—remember, only backers will get The Trilling Shard, and we know this product will speak to a lot of people who would hate to miss out. Plus, more backers will help us reach even greater stretch goals, like the recently announced Ninth World Bestiary 3!

Darcy Ross

Darcy L. Ross, Community Relations Coordinator for Monte Cook Games, is a storyteller, scientist, and community organizer. Across media, she aims to highlight people doing good things in the gaming community and to bring new people into gaming. She co-hosts the podcast Cypher Speak, has blogged for the award-winning Gnome Stew, and has worked to support marginalized voices in gaming with ConTessa. Darcy lives in a small but powerful aldeia of tabletop creatives in Hyde Park, Chicago.